New York City’s bold Democratic socialist mayor outshone Donald Trump with a strong and emotional speech that praised protest, celebrated our differences, and reminded the whole country of what America truly stands for.
“For generation after generation, we have been told that when people from around the world came to our country, it wasn’t the best of them.
It was Puritans, Sikhs, Quakers, Muslims, and Jewish people who were chased away for praying the wrong way, worshiping the wrong gods, or angering the wrong people.It was peasants and serfs who were seen as less because they had little more than clothes, let alone land.It was immigrants who had no real power.”
“We are told that America is special because we are richer, stronger, and more powerful than others.”
“The truth, my friends, is that America is special because here, nothing is fixed.
The frontier may be closed, we may have walked on the moon, but the work of making good on the values first written in the Declaration of Independence still goes on.That work is ours, and it belongs to all of us.”
“It also belongs to our newest Americans, the ones standing with me today, who were recently granted citizenship.
Nearly a decade ago, I felt exactly what you feel— the happiness of no longer being just a New Yorker, but an American too.”
“We see America every time hardworking people ask for more, not just for themselves, but for others.
Some respond with a simple message: love it or leave it.But patriotism is never about pretending our nation is perfect.Patriotism is every right action against injustice.It is every march under the hot sun.It is every protest that happens too early.”
“It is because we love this country that we will not leave it.
After all, who loves America more than those who have given so much to make it free?”
The ideals on which our nation was built are strong enough to survive any authoritarian rule, but only if we reach for them.
Our country is always working each day toward the perfection it was meant to be.It strives every day to better itself.That is the true work of America.”
“The striving, the improving, and the reaching for perfection.
What a privilege it is to live in a nation that everyone can shape.What a responsibility it is to prove ourselves worthy of all those who came before us.”
“What power we each have to bring America closer to the greatness so many have seen when they first arrived here.
The greatness that has defined America for 250 years.Thank you.God bless America.God bless New York City.And happy Fourth of July.”
It’s okay if you’re moved to tears.
It’s so important that America hears these words before Donald Trump starts spewing a flood of racist lies, empty bravado, and fake promises.
America is so much more than the narrow, selfish vision that some conservatives can imagine.
Their view is full of paranoid fear, selfishness, and spite.
While progressive Mamdani offers a message of unity that embraces our differences and looks forward to a better future where life is easier, Trump will lie to America and tell them they’re already great when we’ve never been at a lower point.
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